Thinking About The Unthinkable

The unthinkable has happened -- a fascist fraud will become our next president.  Great job, America!

No, this is not "just politics," it is not "just another election," the Ill Douche is not "just another president," and there's no assurance that "everything will be OK."  You can hope and pray, but our country has never made this sort of dreadful mistake before, and the consequences for us are unknowable.

We are sad and angry and confused and hurt.  People are crying.  Relationships are strained.  Younger generations are disillusioned and the U.S. looks foolish in the eyes of the world.  This is not good and it is not a normal post-election response.

I have been comforted by personal messages of sympathy from a few dear friends who share my sensibilities.  Thank you.  This has indeed been like a tragic, untimely death in the family.  It's Mourning in America.

For now, the deplorables have won.  They have no idea what they've won, or what their Dear Leader is going to do, but it's their ball now and they're going to run with it.  Like Cal's Roy Riegels in 1929 or the Vikings Jim Marshall in 1964, they'll be running the wrong way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Riegels
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Marshall_(gridiron_football)

You wanna kiss and make up?  Really?  For 15 straight months, the biggest asshole on earth spewed hatred, racism, sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and non-stop lies and called it his campaign.  All that time his supporters adored his bigoted "us-vs.-them" vituperation, but now they call for "unity" and want us to hold hands and sing Kumbaya.  Well, friggin' forget it!  The guy is endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan, for cryin' out loud!  We're not going to unify behind that.

You thought that things were "divisive" before?  Well, you ain't seen nuthin' yet!  In the immortal words of Daffy Duck:  "Of courth you realithe thith meanth war!"



Both Drumpf himself and uneducated white America have a lot to answer for.  Idiot Nation rejected demographic reality and spent the past 8 years working itself up into a retro racist tizzy.  And the Hideous Huckster and his helpers have managed to give it license by normalizing hate speech and hate thought.  Because being PC is a "big problem."  Thanks, Donnie.  That's really helpful.

Years ago, we hired a guy we called "Handy Randy" for some home renovations.  Randy was and is a ne'er-do-well skinhead alcoholic who often lives in his car.  He's off the grid -- pays no taxes, can't vote, but he's a good handyman who was alt-right before it had a name.  We lost touch for awhile, then the lovely Mrs. Gammons found him and friended him on Facebook, until she unfriended him yesterday.  Randy's last post regarding the election, verbatim:

"FUCK YOU all you liberal white fucking CUNTS!"

Charming, eh?  Of course, most fans of the Tangerine Tyrant would immediately disavow that comment:  "That's not me!  I don't say things like that!  I don't think like that?"   OK, but you still voted for the guy who encouraged that sort of rhetoric, didn't you?  So I think maybe yes, you do think like that.


Snarky Wit from Friends and Family

• "Let the Wednesday noon sirens remind us who will have the nuclear codes for the next four years."  (Thanks, C.T.)

•  The lovely Mrs. Gammons is in a neighborhood book club which meets every Wednesday, but she didn't attend this week's session.  A club member emailed her:  "Missed you last night.  Are you OK?"  Mrs. Gammons replied:  "I was a little ill, but I'll feel better in four years."

How to Live in Trumpland
A friend and fellow blogger (thanks, J.T.) sent this advice from Garrison Keillor:

"Spend four years raising heirloom tomatoes, meditating, reading Jane Austen, traveling around the country, tasting artisan beers, and let the Republicans build the wall and carry on the trade war with China and deport the undocumented and deal with opioids, and we Democrats can go for a long, brisk walk and smell the roses." 

Good advice, and a good article by Keillor, linked here.  Let the Republicans deal with the monster of their own making.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-voters-will-not-like-what-happens-next/2016/11/09/e346ffc2-a67f-11e6-8fc0-7be8f848c492_story.html

But along with our walking, reading, beer tasting and flower sniffing, for the next four years we must also defend our advances and protect against the regressive agenda of this candidate of cruelty and ignorance.  We must speak out against his threats and his bigotry and his lies.  We must resist, oppose, obstruct, filibuster, protest and engage in civil disobedience.  We must engage in relentless truth-telling.

Hail to the Chief?
I acknowledge the outcome of the presidential election and the existence of the next officeholder.  Yep, that's him alright.   But he's not a real president -- he's a QVC steak salesman with a 3rd-grade vocabulary.  There's nothing there for me to respect or honor.  For the next four years, I'll just have to do a Kaepernick and take a knee.